Ineffectively managed conflict is costing businesses millions every year

I recently came across a very interesting study by CPP on the impact of good conflict management on your business.* Although the research is a few years old (2008), given they interviewed 5,000 full-time employees in nine countries around Europe and the Americas, it is probably still very valid and relevant.

They found that employees spend 2.1 hours per week dealing with conflict. If you’re a company of 100 employees with an average salary of £19/hour before tax, that amounts to a cost of almost £207,500 per year!

“If managed improperly, businesses’ productivity, operational effectiveness, and morale take a major hit, as evidenced in our finding that 27 percent of employees have witnessed conflict morph into a personal attack, while 25 percent say that the avoidance of conflict resulted in sickness or absence from work.” – ‘Workplace conflict and how businesses can harness it to thrive’ by CPP

75% of employees find that adequate conflict management skills can turn a conflict into positive outcome

The good news is that the study found that conflict can have a positive effect on your business, leading to a better understanding of other, improved solutions and innovation. But this effect only occurs when employees have been trained on how to deal with conflicts.

In other words, inevitable conflict can become a positive driver within your business as long as proper training is provided. Approximately 75% of employees reported a positive impact from conflict in such a situation.

Seven out of ten employees see conflict management as an essential skill for leaders and 54% think disputes would be handled better if the issues were addressed before the conflict erupted.

This research shows again that conflict management skills, as many other soft skills, are not a bonus for companies. They are essential to your bottom line, creating cost-savings, efficiencies and opportunities for growth.

Thomas Buus Madsen is the COO and co-founder of Bookboon, the world’s largest e-book publisher for employee effectiveness and soft skills. By making its platform incredibly easy to use and only publishing industry-leading experts, Bookboon boasts some of the highest usage rates in the digital learning sector.

Get a free copy now of Bookboon’s “21st Century Corporate Learning & Development” by Prof. Dr. Nick van Dam, Global Chief Learning Officer at McKinsey & Co.

* Source: http://img.en25.com/Web/CPP/Conflict_report.pdf